The Young Academy publishes guide for foreign researchers

2 June 2018

The Young Academy has produced a guide for foreign researchers who would like to work in the Netherlands. A Beginner's Guide to Dutch Academia discusses Dutch attitudes to work, employment contracts and the structure of academia in the Netherlands, with its universities and research organisations. The first copy of the guide was presented to the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, on Saturday 2 June 2018.

Research funding

The guide also surveys the various funding options for research projects. For example, it describes how funding awards depend not only on the researcher’s skills but also on whether the research addresses relevant socio-economic problems or facilitates valorisation by third parties.

Terms and conditions of employment

The extent to which foreign researchers can negotiate a salary is limited because academic pay is subject to a collective agreement. On the other hand, maternity and parental leave is longer than in many other countries. Researchers also have considerable freedom to set their own hours. More difficult is that most Dutch universities do not have a ‘double career’ policy; accompanying partners or spouses will have a to find a job on their own. That is otherwise in some other countries.

Equality

One interesting detail is that Dutch instructors and students tend to treat one another as relative equals. Instructors guide students on a shared journey of scholarly discovery rather than simply convey knowledge to them. Relationships between academics are also relatively informal. The guide concludes with a list of informative websites, reports and manuals. It also provides a list of abbreviations and acronyms that Dutch academics will also find useful.